Kids honed their culinary skills and received life lessons at a summer camp spearheaded by grandmothers.
In the heart of Fullerton, a city in Orange County, a unique summer camp is making waves. Organised by Olive Community Services, this intergenerational camp brings together seniors, often grandmothers, and children aged 8 to 14, fostering a vibrant atmosphere of cultural transmission, skill-sharing, and social bonding.
The camp's purpose is twofold. On one hand, it aims to combat senior isolation and loneliness, providing companionship and a renewed sense of purpose for the seniors. On the other, it teaches the youth valuable cooking, handicraft, and life skills, imparting cultural traditions and intergenerational empathy.
At the camp, volunteer grandmothers share their culinary expertise, teaching children traditional dishes like chicken stir fry, and handicrafts such as sewing, embroidery, clay jewelry making, and card marking. The children, in turn, share their knowledge about modern topics like artificial intelligence and its impact on their lives.
One such participant, Janna Moten, found sewing particularly challenging due to keeping the lines straight. However, she has been practicing hand-stitching at home after learning embroidery a previous week. Her friend, Rahim, finds it heartwarming to interact with the kids at the camp. Haqiqah Abdul Rahim, the sewing instructor, doesn't get to spend a lot of time with her grandchildren because they don't live close. She stated that many kids don't learn these skills at school anymore through home economics classes, so they're "filling in a gap."
Leena Albinali, a high school student, started the Golden Connections Club, which partners with the camp. At monthly lunches, the club invites seniors to the school, providing an opportunity for both groups to learn from each other. Leena realized the importance of spending time with grandparents after learning about ageism and other challenges faced by senior adults in one of her classes. She realized that many students didn't have the same opportunity to spend as much time with their grandparents, leading her to start the club.
One of the most important things Leena has learned from the elders is to live in the moment. The camp serves an important role in cultural preservation and psychosocial well-being for both seniors and children in the Arab community. Similar intergenerational programs, such as those by the Diyanet Center of America, emphasise faith, culture, and community life, reinforcing cultural identity and social cohesion within the Arab and Muslim communities.
The camp provides a platform for the sharing of life stories and advice, creating a dynamic and lively atmosphere. It's more than just a summer camp; it's a bridge connecting generations, a testament to the enduring value of shared activities and storytelling.
1) In Seattle, a city known for its vibrant lifestyle, a new initiative, The Golden Connections Club, has been established by Leena Albinali, focusing on home-and-garden activities, education-and-self-development, and fashion-and-beauty, while also fostering an intergenerational connection between high school students and seniors.
2) Weekly workshops at The Golden Connections Club feature grandmothers teaching children various cooking recipes, such as food-and-drink delicacies like chicken stir fry, as well as traditional handicrafts like sewing, embroidery, and clay jewelry making.
3) As Leena's education progressed, she became increasingly aware of the importance of preserving cultural traditions, leading her to create a space where seniors could share their knowledge about living in the moment and imparting life lessons to children.
4) The camp and club's initiatives in teaching cooking, handicrafts, and life skills, as well as monthly lunches where seniors engage with students, have proven to be an effective way to combat senior isolation and its negative effects on mental health while also instilling a sense of cultural identity and social cohesion within the Arab and Muslim communities.
